Safety concerns for Fortescue mines

THE safety record of iron ore miner, Fortescue Metals, is under further scrutiny after more accidents at its iron ore mines in north-west Western Australia.

The state's mining regulator says it is investigating four incidents which happened this month at the company's Solomon Hub iron ore mines in the Pilbara.

In late December, the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) issued a rare directive to FMG to tighten safety procedures after a second fatality in less than six months at its Christmas Creek mine.

The incidents at the Solomon mines include a worker badly bruising a knee in a forklift accident, a breach of safety procedures when three drillers were 50 metres inside a 500 metre blast exclusion zone when an explosion went off, and two other incidents involving a water truck rolling over and a near miss with another water truck.

The Solomon mines are operated by construction giant, Leighton Holdings.